The Wrong Path
by Jet556
Summary: On their way to the city of Harapa, the ThunderCats and the young evabon Balor stop to hunt a monster that has been causing trouble for farmers. Lion-O, Tygra, Cheetara and Kit alone are the ones who want to catch the monster. Balor however has a feeling that they should just ignore the monster and keep on going. Panthro and Kat agree with him, the other four don't.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome, gang. This story will be four chapters, it will lead into the story after this one, so showing up to read the next story is really necessary to know what happens next. Enjoy.**

**The Livestock Sucker**

Balor scrambled around the inside of the ThunderTank. Looking out the window, there was a big smile on his face. Panthro turned his head a bit as he drove the tank to look at Balor.

"Don't smile too much!" Balor turned to look at Panthro. "Remember where we're going!" Balor swallowed as he thought about it. The ThunderCats and him were headed for Harapa. That's where Gard, Zuvowang and Dalv had gone. Balor was hoping to meet up with them… of course he had never been in a city and had no idea how hard it was to find someone in a city.

"I remember where we're going, just keep your eyes up front." Panthro turned his head completely to look at Balor. He was giving him driving advice. Unbelievable! An eight-year old was giving him driving advice! There was some laughing from the other ThunderCats. Tygra then put a hand on Panthro's shoulder and pointed through the window.

"Panthro, watch it!" Panthro turned his head to look and stepped on the breaks as some freakish looking thing ran in the direction the ThunderTank was going. It was gray, lizard-like in appearance, four feet tall, walking up right on muscular hind legs. It had large eyes, fangs and a forked tongue with sharp quills running down its back. Tygra turned to look at Panthro. "Was that… a lizard?" Panthro shook his head in response.

"Never seen a lizard that looks like that!" Cheetara then walked over to Tygra and Panthro.

"I can't imagine anyone else has either."

"It's the livestock-sucker!" All of the ThunderCats starred at Balor. "It sucks livestock dry of their blood!" Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara then walked towards the exit. "Where are you going?"

"Well, we're still nowhere near Harapa." Lion-O looked back at Balor. The evabon boy knew where this was going. "We can help the farmers by making their livestock safe." Kit ran over to join them. This caused Balor to turn his head to look at Kat.

"Aren't you supposed to be the adventurous one?" Kat shrugged. Balor then looked over at the four at the exit. "I'm staying here."

"Have a little bit of courage, Balor." Tygra's comment made Balor cross his arms.

"I'm not scared." Balor turned his head to look at Snarf. "I just have this feeling. My father use to describe this feeling as being oppressive, like thunder!" Tygra just shook his head and he and the other three left the ThunderTank. Panthro, Kat, Balor and Snarf stayed in the tank. That feeling Balor was having was warning that they should have heeded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back, gang. The point of this story is to really tug at your heartstrings. Less from dialogue or exposition and more from the action in the story. Enjoy.**

**Clay**

Balor walked towards the Tank's exit. He didn't know why but something was telling him he should be out there. He started to think about that Mysterious Shaman and Procyon. A warrior and a shaman… were they his spirit guides maybe? He just wasn't sure.

"Where do you think your going?" Balor turned to look at Panthro. He needed to say something. He had to answer fast! He had to answer fast!

"Breath of fresh air." Balor left the tank. He wondered if Panthro believed him. He then wondered why exactly he was leaving the ThunderTank. He had a feeling that was warning him of danger and now he was having a feeling that was telling him to go outside where the danger was.

Balor looked at the tracks the Livestock Sucker had left. The four ThunderCats that left the tank must have followed it.

Something then looked familiar about the tracks. Balor bent down to take a closer look. It wasn't about the tracks at all! There was something in them! Balor picked it up and looked at it with wide eyes.

Clay! Gray as he was! Like the clay his mother used to make pottery when she lived! Clay in the footprints… Had the Livestock Sucker been walking in clay?

Balor started to follow the footprints, not in the direction they had went but in the direction they had come from. He soon reached some trees. There was a lot of moss on the trees and lying against the tree trunks, covered in moss was a skeleton. The skull was missing! Balor examined the skeleton. It bore resemblance to the Livestock Sucker.

Balor placed a finger on his chin and tapped it. This was weird. Clay in the footprints of the Livestock Sucker? A skeleton that looked liked the Livestock Sucker with the skull missing? What did it all mean? He just wasn't sure.

The young evabon looked at the sky. When had life become so mysterious? What was he to do now? He just wasn't sure.

He then looked at the ground filled with uncertainty. Balor placed a hand on his shoulder right shoulder. He felt the scars on the back of his shoulder. He thought about the person who gave him those scars: Kleos. What kind of a person would take a whip to a child? As he felt the scars, Balor only wondered one thing.

What was he to do now?


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back, gang. The Shaman from my previous story appears in this chapter. Enjoy.**

**Not His Father**

Balor heard a sound. He looked up and saw a white tolac with only one eye. It must have been the biggest tolac in existence! It must have been eleven feet tall! Frightened, Balor closed his eyes.

Balor then opened his eyes when he felt someone nudging him with a wooden staff. It was the Shaman! Where had he come from? Where was the tolac?

"I expected more courage from someone whose mother is descended from Gard." Balor shook his head. "I know you expected your father to be descended from Gard but the fact is your father is not your father!"

"That's impossible!" The Shaman starred down at Balor. He was still sitting down. "My father was grey, my mother was grey I'm grey! Who else could have been my father?"

"Someone who didn't even know who your mother was, someone who just came across your mother one night while she was out walking!" Balor started to tremble. This was just too much for him to handle. "He had a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on his right arm." Balor jumped into the trees and fled from the place.

He finally stopped in one tree and looked down below. The person he had called father was not his father? How could that be true? It couldn't be! The Shaman must have been wrong or lying! How did he even know so much about Balor? The two had never met prior to that time in the cave.

It just hurt so much and confused him. He had loved his father like a son should… how could he have not been his father?

Balor's thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps. Footsteps that were running! Balor looked down and saw Kit. But where were the others Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara? Where were they?

Instantly, Balor jumped down from the tree to her. When she heard Balor land, Kit gave a frightened cry. When she saw that it was Balor, Kit hugged the young evabon in fear. She must have thought he had been the Livestock Sucker.

"Balor, they're dead! All three of them! Fireballs fell from the sky and killed them!" Balor's eyes widened. Dead?

"Gard? Zuvowang? Dalv? You met them? They're dead now? No! Not Gard! He can't be dead! He can't" Both had tears running down their faces.

"No, Lion-O… Tygra… Cheetara… Sotark killed them!" Balor's jaw dropped. Sotark? How could he have known? "His eyes, they were in the sky and I heard his laughter!" Balor started to shake his head. Sotark couldn't have been that powerful could he? "It's like having two Mumm-Ra's! One person like that was bad enough but—"

"I won't let him hurt you!" Balor spoke in an assuring voice to Kit. Deep down Balor doubted he could protect Kit or even himself against Sotark. They then heard clapping and a normal sized being made of rock and tree bark, resembling Sotark walked towards them.

"How sentimental but ultimately futile." From the mouth of the being came Sotark's voice. "Three of the four are mine already, this little beast however is still required." Balor glared but at the same time raised an eyebrow in question.

"Sotark?" The thing nodded in response.

"Aye, although this is but a puppet it is still I and do not think I've ever forgotten you, my future champion." Balor pointed a finger at himself. Sotark nodded causing an angry look to appear on Balor's face. The young grey skin stepped forward and a smirk appeared on the puppet's face.

"I'd never fight for someone like you!" Sotark laughed at Balor's response. Long and hard he laughed cruelly.

"Of course you will, all you require is a push in the right direction!" Sotark's puppet raised a hand and soon enough a fireball flew from it and headed straight for Kit who had no time to react. When it was all done, she too was dead. Enveloped in a fireball. Then Panthro and Kat arrived on the scene both shocked by what they saw. "Let's start with those three grey elders, they will spend the rest of eternity as pieces of my living chess set!" Balor ran forward but was quickly swatted aside by the puppet of stone and tree bark. "Those four beasts aren't dead but they soon will be! At the height of the celebration of the Festival of Ecstasy, the two males will be placed in the arena unarmed and without armor to be torn apart by wild beasts that have been tortured to kill! The females will die upon an altar and in the fantastic years to come you shall lead my armies and Third Earth will know that its master of old lives again!" The puppet then looked at Panthro and Kat. "And just so you beasts know, that thing your pack members had gone after was little more but a specter… and until we meet again, young Balor I bid you adieu!" And with that the puppet crumbled. Balor starred in shock. Was this all there was to his life? No! There had to be something else! That one-eyed tolac must have been an omen or something!


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome back, gang. This chapter is the last chapter of this story and it will lead into the next one "The Festival of Ecstasy." Enjoy.**

**Harapa**

The two ThunderCats and Balor continued to Harapa. This time it had more to do with meeting up with Gard, Zuvowang and Dalv. This time it was all about saving their friends from death and in the case of the three old evabon a fate worse than death perhaps.

Eventually they arrived at Harapa. A city surrounded by a great wall, higher than an evabon could jump. Had Balor know where the underground entrance was he would have suggested they go in that way. Since he didn't all they could do was look for a hole in the wall.

It was at this point that warriors of Harapa found them. They were strange creatures. Huge, semi-humanoid winged creatures with glowing red eyes. They were all seven feet tall and had ten foot wingspans. What were they?

Panthro had never seen anything like them before and neither had Kat. When Balor saw them he thought they might be Olitiau but these things were far more moth-like in appearance than the bat-like demons Balor had seen and they were male!

These mothmen brought the three into the city. The trio was brought before a strange person. It had the head and tail of a bird and a snake's body that was covered in feathers. The person was wearing a tall crown and a jade pendant. His name Oclazteuq and he looked down at the three strangers before him with hungry eyes.

"Great Sotark has returned to us! Tomorrow is the Festival of Ecstasy and at the height of its celebration there must be deaths!" The serpent slithered towards Panthro and Kat. "Two for the arena!" The serpent looked at the robotic arms on Panthro. "Make sure these are removed." The serpent then slithered towards Balor. "Ah, the one Sotark spoke of! His future champion! You will be taken to the gauntlet to be trained." Oclazteuq then looked at the mothmen. "You know where to take them now take them away!" And with that, Balor was taken away to the gauntlet, a school of sorts for the future warriors of Harapa. Panthro and Kat were taken away to a prison joined to an arena.

This was Harapa. This was the city that worshipped Sotark.

**The End**

**Well, that's the end of this story but the larger story continues on Monday. Until then read and review.**


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